


Worlds Away

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Alien Culture, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Future, Arranged Marriage, Cultural Differences, Hate to Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-08-30 06:58:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8523088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: In the far future, Earth makes contact with a planet called Rhodia. Rhodia, left alone by the Shadowkin, quickly find that differences make their relations fall apart.The only solution seems to be a union between ruling classes, but Charlie is determined to hate uncultured humans and Matteusz is determined to hate overgrown pufferfish.





	1. Relations

It was not unusual for Earth to be approached by a foreign power through the Intergalactic Assembly. They had operators and ambassadors dealing with planets from all corners of every discovered galaxy, so the embassy from Rhodia was received with very little surprise.

What was received with a little more surprise, though, was just how friendly they were. The Rhodians seemed very keen on Earth culture, in the sort of way that seemed almost suspicious until it had been months and no one had showed even the slightest sign of getting shot yet. It was probably because of how advanced Earth were in comparison to Rhodia. The planet had been approached by outside sources, so while it was very developed in some areas, it lagged behind in others and needed assistance. And Earth needed assistance in plenty of the areas that Rhodia excelled in. It was a mutually beneficial agreement- it only made sense to stay in contact for longer.

Their planets developed a little, but they quickly found that a lack connections between the planets meant a lack of understanding of the culture, which quickly devolved into arguments and even threats of the whole research agreement breaking down.

It was agreed eventually that certain important people among the Rhodia should, as they put it, combine with people of equal importance on Earth, in order for the two cultures to better understand each other. Politically beneficial marriages were no taboo on Earth, either, but the only issue was who would be married. Rhodia came up with their first person quickly; the second child of their King, Prince Charlethen.

Earth royals had a slightly harder time, for the simple fact that there were many royal families. But it was Poland who had a child closest to the Rhodian prince's age, and so he was chosen. That caused a fuss in itself, as the Rhodian prince had initially been offered the hand of the young princess in Egypt, but he had refused. Outrage had sparked at first at his refusal, but as it was simply due to a matter of incompatibility, the matter was resolved. The prince had accepted the next offered choice, at least, so that was good. A date was set, and the first of several arranged marriages between the people of Earth and Rhodia would shortly take place.

-

"Mother, I refuse." Matteusz was angry. Those stupid Rhodians and their stupid lack of understanding of different cultures. They didn't understand what marriage actually meant, what emotional connections actually meant. And now he was being sent off to marry one without his consent.

"You can't refuse," she said sharply. "If you will insist on refusing all our attempts to find you a wife, the least you can do is accept that we're trying to accommodate your disgusting tendencies."

Matteusz bit his lip and nodded. He'd sort of known that the response would be something along those lines. But he would have appreciated a little warning before being told that he was definitely marrying an alien prince. He didn't even try to argue with his father about it, knowing that it would most likely earn him a good ten minutes of yelling and possible a slap in the face. If his mother wouldn't back down, he'd just have to grudgingly accept it.

Rhodians weren't even...he didn't think they counted as men. Didn't they have different perceptions of what gender actually meant? He didn't know. Even if this person said he was a man, Matteusz wasn't really convinced. And that was no guarantee he would even be attracted to him or would even like him. Arranging marriages for political benefit was a mess. And he didn't even have that long to prepare before the marriage, either. The least his parents could have done was give him a few month's advance warning, but no. That would be far too kind.

No, it was in one month, and that was only because they wanted him to start sorting out the details of the wedding. It was going to be in space, as was the custom for any cross-planetary marriages, but apparently Rhodians had many specific marriage customs due to their global religion, so he'd have to be walked through everything beforehand. And worst of all, he didn't even get to meet this damned prince before the wedding. Apparently he was too busy, and so was Matteusz.

He stormed back to his room without another word to his parents. He hated them and their stupid system and their utter bullshit politics. He was going to end up with some politician prince in his political marriage and he hated everything.

Matteusz wanted to punch something, but there was nothing to punch except his bed and that wasn't very satisfying. It just squished, and didn't help at all. He couldn't punch a wall because his parents would be angry that he lost his temper over a 'childish dream'. He didn't understand why it was so strange to them that he would want to marry someone he loved. Or, if he couldn't get that, he would have liked to meet them before getting engaged.

Although, he supposed, they didn't believe that he was even capable of love. They didn't think that being attracted to boys counted. They barely thought he was human, he supposed. They'd said that to him before. Someone had even told him once that he'd probably get on well with Rhodians because he was more like them than he was like humans.

Matteusz didn't think he was going to get along well with any Rhodians. They were aliens. Not human at all, probably not even attracted to humans. He'd just live his life lonely. But he was resigned to that now. He would live a lonely life with an alien in his home. An alien prince who was probably obsessed with books, knowing Rhodians. They had a downright unhealthy obsession with research. Matteusz enjoyed a good story, but nowhere near as much as any of the Rhodians he'd seen. He didn't expect his future partner would have much of an interest in horseriding or swimming like he did, either. Rhodians didn't have horses.

Rhodians didn't even have much water. It was ridiculous. One of the first things they'd asked Earth scientists for help with was creating efficient reservoirs for water. What a basic thing they really needed when instead they decided to work on their historical theory and philosophy.

Matteusz hated them. All of them, no exceptions. Especially this damned stupid prince. Why couldn't he just have married that Egyptian princess and left him be?


	2. Many Many Many Many Miles Away From Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie has his own opinions on Earth and the marriage.

Being a pawn was probably Charlie's least favourite thing about being alive. Politics was his least favourite thing, but being a political pawn was awful. He had hated it his entire life, right from his first memory of 'smile for the nice ambassador man' to now, which would be 'smile for the galaxy even though your whole life is falling apart'. It was alright for his sister, Crown Princess of Rhodia. But as the second child, he was useless. Since he had been aware of the concept of marriage, Charlie had always known he'd end up forced into something political to better his people. But never had he expected to be marrying a human.

He hadn't even known that humans had existed until five years ago, at which point they burst into his life with promises of unlimited clean water and myths like that. He was more interested in their fascinating, convoluted and utterly ridiculous history. Honestly, the kinds of things that happened on Earth. So many bloody wars and battles on land and sea, so many brilliant artists and inventors and writers whose works he could pore over for hours. The human race was brilliant, but...he'd rather not marry one of them.

Their current culture was less than satisfactory. They were always caught up in their science and their planet didn't even have complete literacy yet. They'd been offended when he'd refused a female bride, so they were clearly backwards in every way. Thankfully they'd offered someone else, a prince who Charlie had been slightly happier to accept. Although, he still would have much preferred no one at all.

He'd tried to protest when the ambassadors told him what they'd done, but the courts shut him down fairly quickly. They weren't interested in him being unable to produce children for the future of the family and being of no political use at the same time. They just wanted him safely married off to someone important, somewhere that he couldn't cause any more trouble for the courts or his parents. Not that his parents ever bothered to speak much with him. They hadn't spoken to him for about three weeks now, but he didn't miss their conversation. For leaders of an intellectual people, his parents were thoroughly unintelligent. He loathed every second he spent speaking to them. If they weren't bothering him about his sexuality, they were asking the same dull questions about his studies or what book he'd been reading. And they never showed any actual interest in his answers.

He hated them, and under any other circumstance he would be glad to be rid of them. But moving to another planet away from not just everyone he hated but also everyone he loved...even if they had fresh water on demand Charlie didn't much fancy Earth. They'd probably want him to engage in their politics too.

And this human prince was probably going to be stuck up and dull. Human history rarely seemed to say positive things about their monarchies. An alarming number of them ended up dead.

Poland also had an interesting an turbulent history, but they'd managed to end up as one of the distinct countries in the global government that characterised Earth, so they had an elite family. This 'Matteusz Andrzejewski IX' was a member of that family, and that was apparently where he was going to end up. There wasn't much on human records about him. Perhaps he was a private person, someone who just kept himself to himself. That wouldn't be too bad.

Regardless, the idea of moving to another planet made him want to throw himself off the balcony. Even though he hated Rhodian politics, he had a great appreciation for the beauty and culture of his planet, which he would be separated from probably for months at a time. They hadn't sorted out all the details yet, they told him, but as Earth winters were both cold and ridiculously long, he'd likely be back here for a quarter of a human year. He hadn't seen much of Earth yet, but he greatly doubted that anything could be as beautiful as the red hills of Rhodia in the sunlight, the silvery-pink leaves on the trees sparkling like paper-thin jewels.

He would miss his home, and he desperately hated the courts and the humans for dragging him away from it. He could only see one positive in going to Earth, and that was a unique opportunity to experience their culture firsthand. He could even write books on it, he expected, and the thought of that made him excited. As long as he didn't have to speak to the prince he was marrying too much, maybe it would be alright. He had some hope, at least.

That spark of hope and that tiny bit of excitement was the only thing stopping him from doing something drastic to get out of going. However deeply satisfying it would be to shout to the whole of the courts that he would gladly kill every human in existence, it would also be damaging to his life prospects. And probably to their peace treaty with the humans, too. War with humanity was not something he wanted- if there was one thing he'd learned from studying their history books, it was that humans were violent.

In fact, he wouldn't hesitate to say that their levels of violence towards outsiders reached barbaric, which was one of the reasons he'd protested so heavily to being sent there. He felt like a 'sacrificial lamb', as the humans would call it. They did have some odd expressions...but that didn't really matter. He knew he'd have a lot more to deal with than just some silly expressions when he finally got down to Earth.

Their legendary xenophobia, for the first thing. They'd been warned as a culture by the Intergalactic Assembly that humans were highly intolerant to outsiders even of their dominant culture within their own planet, let alone cultures from other planets. If they couldn't even stop squabbling with each other, what hope did an alien have? Charlie wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to assassinate him within three minutes of making planetfall.

He hated to admit it even to himself, but he was scared. Humans were scary. They were a major intergalactic power and they basically controlled their own galaxy with an iron fist. They loved crushing people, and he knew that this was the reason he was going there to marry one of them. To stop Rhodia from being crushed.

It was a fine duty for a prince, maybe even a necessary one, but that didn't mean he had to like it. And he really, really didn't.


	3. Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matteusz finally meets his future husband.

Matteusz had never been into space before. Of course, it was hardly a difficult thing these days, but it had just...never interested him. And now he had no choice in the matter.

He wasn't the only one going, of course. Most of the royalty classes on Earth wanted to be there, either due to politics or because they genuinely wanted to see the first marriage of a Rhodian to a human.

Spaceship flights, it turned out, left him feeling a little queasy. Matteusz had to pace around outside for a good ten minutes before he felt normal enough to head inside and start talking to people without vomiting on someone. He didn't like space travel, which he supposed was tough seeing as he'd probably be doing quite a bit of it for the rest of his life. It was depressing. He'd been attempting to come to terms with the idea of being married within the next week, but he couldn't.

The Rhodians he met inside didn't look at all like the Rhodians he'd seen photos of. No more alien pufferfish, just...humans, in odd clothing, with the occasional blue tint to their skin or strangely pointed ears in a few people. He wondered if they changed the way they looked, or maybe they actually didn't look like pufferfish. He hoped his future husband didn't look like one, because that would be strange and deeply unpleasant, especially as you had to kiss to make the marriage 'legally binding'. And he was pretty sure there was supposed to be sex involved at some point. Usually on the wedding night. That was human tradition, at least.

Matteusz wasn't exactly sure that he wanted to have sex with someone he'd only just met. Generally people didn't do that, though he'd had a few flings in his time. Mostly over the last couple of weeks before he wasn't allowed to again. He wondered if the alien prince had been doing the same, making the most of his time with his own people before he was tied down and forced to live with someone who didn't want him around all that much.

He felt pretty sorry for the poor guy, honestly. He had an actual position of power on his home planet, especially if his sister died without having children, and Matteusz's own power was only based on money and very very vague political standing. He wasn't sure his parents even got a bearing on politics.

After he'd greeted what felt like endless Rhodians, it was time to actually meet the person he'd be marrying far too soon. Matteusz just hoped he wasn't blue. He was lead to the room where they were meant to meet just before the wedding. Traditionally, they would pray together for their good fortune while married, but Matteusz wasn't religious and he definitely didn't have the Rhodian religion.

It occurred to him that he didn't even know the prince's name, and that was embarrassing to say the least. No doubt his parents knew, they just hadn't bothered to tell their failure of a son. It wasn't part of the ceremony to introduce himself, but he probably should, because most Rhodian arranged marriages began with a meeting to discuss whether it was mutually beneficial for them. He hadn't had that experience, so maybe the prince wouldn't know anything about him either.

He got into the room, and the prince was already there. Facing away from him, which meant that Matteusz couldn't even see if he was blue. He cleared his throat, trying to be as polite as he could. "Excuse me."

He jumped and span around to face him, and his face immediately went blank. "Oh," he said, "it's you." And okay, he wasn't a pufferfish, but his face was decidedly grey.

Not entirely grey- he could pass for human if not for the pointed ears, but it was just grey enough to be noticeable. Ignoring the colour, though, he was quite attractive. Very princely. He'd probably despise Matteusz. "I'm Matteusz-" he started, but the Rhodian raised his hand to cut him off.

"I know who you are already," he said. He sounded so put together, so regal. He was everything Matteusz wasn't. "Please don't remind me of what we have to do."

"Could you at least tell me your name? My parents did not bother to let me know." Matteusz sighed. "Then you never have to speak to me again if you wish not to."

He smiled, and Matteusz sort of wished that he wasn't determined to hate him. He was attractive. "Charlethen," he said, "but I much prefer Charlie."

Charlie. A surprisingly normal name. Matteusz was glad that he didn't approve of his own birth name- that would be a nightmare to try and pronounce properly. "Thank you," he said, and went to go sit down by the edge of the room.

The moment he was gone, Charlie knelt down in the centre of the room. Religion never failed to confuse Matteusz, but he wasn't about to interrupt him or challenge his beliefs. Instead, he just watched, rather curious as to how Rhodian religion worked. He was sick to death of human religion and how intolerant it made people, but maybe this one wasn't so bad.

It took Charlie nearly five minutes to complete whatever he was doing. Matteusz wasn't familiar with the conventions of any religions at all; he'd been averse to it ever since he was young. When he was done, he stood up, and sat down on the opposite side of the room to Matteusz. Well, that was good. The less talking they had to do, the better.

He didn't know what to do now. He knew exactly what was meant to happen once they left this room. He would leave first and go to a raised balcony-like platform at the end of the ceremony hall, and as the ceremony occurred he was supposed to make his way down. It had some religious significance he hadn't really paid all that much attention to.

Of course, he'd still rather jump out of the nonexistent window of the room and end it all before his life was ruined forever. Charlie hadn't been terribly friendly so far- he probably hated Matteusz already. He would hate him, honestly, if he was in Charlie's position. It didn't seem fair to him that Charlie had to come to Earth first and be torn away from his home, but at the same time he would not want to be in his place.

He sighed, and Charlie looked over at him suddenly, frowning a little. "I'm sorry that you have to do this," he said, still sounding more princely that Matteusz would ever manage.

Matteusz was about to say that it was fine, but really it wasn't and if he said that it would just be lying. "I don't think it's your fault," he said. That was not a lie. He very much doubted that the prince had offered himself up for marriage.

"It's not, believe me. My parents and the court made the decision. The only say I got in the whole process was not marrying that first princess...I thought it would be better to spend life with someone that I have at least a possibility of being attracted to." Charlie seemed sort of sad when he spoke, and Matteusz felt a bit bad for him.

"At least I didn't end up being married to a woman," he said. Charlie just nodded. So they had one thing in common, but despite finding it unifying in his earlier years, Matteusz found that this didn't cheer him up much.

"I hope we can at least get along," Charlie said, in the diplomatic sort of way that Matteusz was used to hearing during political talks. It was a tone of voice he wanted to hate, but he couldn't when it was combined with that smile.

"Can you tell me about the religion?" He asked. "They, um..." That had sounded really forward and now Charlie was staring at him. "They didn't tell me why I'm going to be standing on a balcony."

"Oh! You get to be the god of the sky." Charlie smiled again. "I get to be the god of the land...it's an old myth about how land and sky came together to form Rhodia, and how all Rhodians are the children of that original marriage."

Matteusz didn't want to say that it was a bunch of bullshit, but it was. Charlie obviously saw his opinion from the expression on his face, because he laughed.

"It didn't happen, of course," he said, "but that's not really the point. Myths are myths, but they have a lasting impression, and that's where the truth lies."

"If you say so. Myths on Earth are not so sweet...usually they involve a lot of death and very few happy endings." He shrugged sadly. "Most people seem to hate happy endings."

"We had an era of that," Charlie said, and his face lit up with a very dangerous enthusiasm that probably meant he'd talk through their wedding. "The post-war period three hundred and seventy two years ago saw a wave of protest literature that sparked cyclical tragedies."

Matteusz understood maybe five words in that sentence. "Oh," he said, blinking in confusion. "That's...unfortunate?" Maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was a good thing. He had no damn clue.

"No, no, it's a fascinating period," Charlie said with a bright smile. "Though the events that preceded it have overshadowed every moment of history since and are probably the reason we have to get married."

"I see..." Clearly Charlie was the sort of person who would rather talk for five hours about culture than do most of the things Matteusz enjoyed.

"Do you like science?" Charlie asked. "I have no talent for it at all." Matteusz wasn't sure if Charlie was intensely annoying or sort of cute, honestly.

"I never paid much attention to science," he said honestly. "Or many of my studies at all...history was not so bad, but most other things were boring."

Charlie laughed. "Wait, really? You've been asked to marry a Rhodian and you don't like studying." Matteusz was starting to see why getting someone who wasn't obsessed with studying to marry a Rhodian was a very, very bad idea.

"Do you have any hobbies outside of studying?" Matteusz wasn't trying to be rude. He just...didn't see how someone could be so damn focused on their work all of the time.

"I don't really have time for typical human hobbies," he said with a shrug. "I have a passing interest in maths at the moment, so that's a current hobby."

Maths. That still pretty much counted as studying. "I like to ride horses sometimes," Matteusz said. Charlie looked confused. "It's a big animal with four legs and hooves that you ride quite fast," he explained.

"Oh, that's your cavalry thing," he said. "I thought they were obsolete." If Matteusz had been religious, he would have been praying for the ceremony to start already. He liked talking to Charlie, but it was getting thoroughly exhausting.

"Horses are animals, they do not become obsolete. Animals go extinct, but horses have not done that either." Matteusz sighed.

"See? Science," Charlie said with a smile, and Matteusz got the feeling that if he ever said anything that Charlie didn't already know, he'd just call it science.

"If you say so." Matteusz hated religion, but internally he was praying for this to be over. He just wanted the ceremony to start already so that he could get it over with.


	4. Commitment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Matteusz get married.

Matteusz had been sitting sullenly in the corner for maybe fifteen minutes when someone knocked on the door and it opened. It was one of the Rhodians, one of the ones with weirdly blue skin. "Prince Matteusz," she said, and he nodded and stood up. He just wanted to have this done so he could go home and try and forget that he was married.

He followed the Rhodian woman out of the room without a glance back at Charlie, finding that a sudden wave of nerves was rising high inside of him. If he messed this up, he could start a war. It would be a war his people would win, initially, but the implications of everything...it was something Matteusz didn't understand. He was sure Charlie would. Charlie was probably just as nervous as he was, maybe more so.

He was instructed to go and stand on a balcony, so he did. Below it was a room full of people, and off to one side was a set of stairs leading down into the room. The people didn't seem to have noticed him yet- Matteusz hung back, not really wanting them to notice him. He knew that as soon as Charlie came into view he was meant to stand at the edge of the balcony. He knew that, and he also knew that being the clumsy idiot he was he would probably fall off the balcony if he wasn't careful. It was less than twenty feet to the floor, so he probably wouldn't suffer worse than a sprained ankle or a fractured leg if he was unlucky, but still...falling off in the middle of a wedding might well be breaking some sacred Rhodian law.

There was some announcing in the ancient Rhodian language that they'd left untranslatable by technology for some reason or another, and then Matteusz saw Charlie enter the room. 

He still looked a hell of a lot more princely than Matteusz ever would. He looked like he wanted to be doing this, he was smiling a little bit, standing very neatly upright and looking about as perfect as anyone could. Matteusz kind of hated him, just a little. The way he held himself, how diplomatic he probably was, how intellectual he was...if he wasn't marrying their son, his parents would absolutely love him. At the same time, though, there was something distinctly un-hateable about Charlie. He was attractive, undeniably so. And he was sweet and earnest and his enthusiasm was amusing and a little endearing.

Trying to pull his mind away from the merits and annoyances of his blue future husband, Matteusz stepped forward to where all the people in the room could see him, trying to pretend he was happy to see Charlie there. People turned to look up at him, a sea of bluish faces and a smaller sea of human-coloured ones as well. Matteusz gritted his teeth and used all of his diplomatic training and just smiled down at them, and then looked to Charlie and smiled at him as well for good measure.

Charlie looked up and his sudden smile was almost blindingly bright. Matteusz didn't know what he'd done to please him so much, but it looked like he'd done something.

The ceremony was something Matteusz had known would drag on horrendously from the start, but the level to which it did that was unreasonable. The temptation to lean forward and rest his elbows on the balcony was really quite unbelievably strong, but Matteusz put his hands behind his back and laced his fingers together and resisted. And resisted, and resisted some more. God, just how long could these people talk?

He didn't understand a word, either, because of all their stupid stuff with their sacred language or something. How up themselves were this species, honestly? He waited a little longer, and then there was a break in the speaking. That meant he had to go down.

Matteusz tried to go down the stairs at an appropriate pace for a ceremonial occasion, and then he crossed the floor to meet Charlie, who had his hands held out. 'Hold my hands', he mouthed, as if Matteusz couldn't have guessed that was what he was supposed to do.

Reluctantly, he took Charlie's excessively warm hands, realising a little too late that his own hands were sweaty from nervousness. He knew that now he was meant to look into Charlie's eyes until the next break in the speech, and then they kissed, and then it was over.

The next break in the speech did not come for a long time. Charlie didn't seem to have to blink. Matteusz tried to match this feat, and then failed, and now his eyes were watering and he probably looked like an idiot. Charlie still had the same faint smile on his face as if this wasn't the worst day of his life, but Matteusz knew it was acting. He hoped he had the same look on his face, honestly, because if he didn't, people would ask questions. Maybe they'd think the watery eyes were tears of happiness or something. That sounded appropriately sappy, like the sort of thing these Rhodians would probably appreciate.

Eventually, the speaking stopped, and Charlie leaned in to kiss him.

Matteusz couldn't say it was an awful experience, though it seemed that Charlie had very little practise. His lips were soft, he was very very very gentle about it, and he clearly wasn't getting any more enjoyment than Matteusz was. It only lasted a few seconds, and then Charlie pulled away again. He was blushing, which was...kind of sweet. Matteusz rather hoped that he wasn't doing the same.

Charlie then raised their linked hands and everyone in the room cheered. Finally, Matteusz could manage a genuine smile. He'd done it. He'd helped his people avoid war. He'd started a union of two species that would hopefully benefit both of them.

There was a little more speaking, and then Charlie, still holding his hand, pulled him off out of the room. Matteusz hoped he'd get a little time to himself, but he doubted it would happen.

"How do you feel?" Charlie asked the moment they were alone. "You looked...you don't understand the language so that was probably boring."

"It was very boring," Matteusz admitted. Charlie was still holding his hand. Maybe that was some sort of tradition. Maybe Charlie was just clingy. "What were they saying?"

"They recounted the tale of the sky and the land," he said with a smile. "And then you came downstairs, they spoke about me for a bit, they read out half of the contract for our marriage deal, and then they told us to consummate."

Matteusz was fine with all of that, right up until Charlie mentioned consummation. He blinked at Charlie, feeling heat crawling up his face. "As in...have sex?" He had no problem with that, but not yet.

"We just consummated," Charlie said, laughing. Matteusz almost fainted from relief. "It means kissing. Confirming it. The contact is part of completing the contract, which is why you can't let go at the moment."

"Right. Okay." Matteusz glanced down at their joined hands, hoping that Charlie didn't mind his slightly sweaty palms. "How long do we have to do this for? And...what else does the contract need us to do?"

"Nothing else," Charlie smiled at him again, and Matteusz wondered why he was so happy that he'd signed his life away. "We're not allowed to have children with anyone else or it's void, but I don't think that's a problem."

"I'm assuming Rhodian biology isn't all that different to human biology..." Matteusz eyed the front of Charlie's trousers a little nervously, and then realised that staring at someone's crotch was probably a little inappropriate and looked away again.

"Oh, I, um..." The smile on Charlie's face immediately faded and Matteusz felt awful. He didn't realise he'd done anything wrong. "They didn't tell you. Don't worry about it, though."

"What?" He frowned, wondering if he'd just broken some sort of taboo. "Didn't tell me about what? No one's told me anything."

"You don't need to know," he said firmly. "We won't be having intercourse any time soon. But you're...you are free to be with anyone you can't have children with. If you want to."

Matteusz narrowed his eyes, scrutinising Charlie's face as if that would reveal whatever secret was being kept from him. Funnily enough, it didn't. "I do not intend to be with anyone else," he said, shrugging. "Seems like cheating."

"You're free to," he said, returning the shrug. "I know the reality of our relationship, Prince Matteusz. I met you barely more than an hour ago and we're now married. You don't want me."

"Still," Matteusz insisted. "I would rather not cheat." As much as it pained him that he would never be able to to live like he was used to again, he had to at least try to make it work with Charlie. Maybe if they despised each other a year down the line, he could reconsider.

Charlie just nodded, apparently unable to thank him for being nice about the situation, pulling them to sit down on a sofa together. "We'll be able to let go in a few minutes," he said, checking what Matteusz assumed was a Rhodian watch.

"Why is it so precisely timed?" Matteusz's wrist was starting to cramp a little bit, so he flexed it carefully, trying not to twist Charlie's hand too much in the process. "How long do we have to hold hands for?"

"Twenty seven minutes," he said. "It's a significant number in relationships on Rhodia. We already held hands for a while when they spoke in the ceremony, so this is what we have left."

"Right." Matteusz slumped back against the sofa, getting himself comfy to wait out the rest of the time. "What is so special about twenty seven?"

"It happens to be how long it takes for light to travel to our planet and then back to our sun," Charlie said, "but no one knows how our ancestors knew that."

"Weird." Matteusz did the maths in his head- thirteen and a half minutes for light to reach the planet. It was only eight minutes from the Sun to Earth, which meant that Earth should be warmer. But it wasn't. Maybe Rhodia's sun was larger.

Charlie nodded, flexing his wrist briefly in Matteusz's grip. "Once we can let go, we have to go out to all the people who want to talk to us now," he said with a sigh. "Would you happen to be any good at conversation?"

"Nope." Matteusz sighed. People had told him he was charming, but only people he was trying to flirt with. And he didn't intend to flirt with the guests at his own wedding. "Are you?"

Charlie shook his head. "I used to take books to social events, but people won't accept that anymore." Matteusz knew the feeling of not being considered young enough to have better things to do than talk to stuffy nobles.

"Maybe we will be able to escape soon. Pretend we are eager to spend time alone together, and then they will let us go." Matteusz severely doubted that would happen, but maybe it was worth a try.

"I...this is the last time I see my people for months," Charlie said. He sounded so unsure and Matteusz felt awful. He was the one doing this to Charlie. "I want to be able to say goodbye but I don't know how."

"Sorry," Matteusz said, and he meant it. He didn't want to pull Charlie away from people that he clearly cared for. "Just...tell them how you feel, say you will miss them, that sort of thing."

Charlie nodded, and looked down at his watch again before letting go of Matteusz's hand. For a moment, he didn't move, and his hand felt strange and warm and...he didn't know, but it felt odd. "It's time to go," he said, and Matteusz could only smile back.


	5. Wedding Reception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matteusz and Charlie meet each other's parents and Charlie says goodbye to his sister.

Saying goodbye was just as difficult and painful as Charlie had known it would be. He stayed by Matteusz's side, as was custom, and walked around the room talking to everyone in the knowledge that he wouldn't see them again for months. It was okay with most people because he wasn't particularly attached to all the nobles of the planet, and he didn't actually care about his parents, but saying goodbye to his sister was hard.

Matteusz had the sense to stand a little to the side as Charlie said goodbye to his sister, which was greatly appreciated. He needed a few minutes alone with the only family member who had ever cared about him.

"How are you finding everything?" Ameris asked him, not hiding that she was sizing up Matteusz a little. He loved her, but she was incredibly protective.

"A little overwhelming so far," he admitted. "But Matteusz seems quite nice. He doesn't have a clue about Rhodian culture, though, or about me..." Charlie sighed.

"That's good," she said, "but it won't be the same here without you. Who can the nobles get annoyed at for using the library at all hours so they can't use it for profit if you're not here?"

"You'll have to use the library in my place," he said, laughing. "Maybe there's a video call that will work across planets and you can just call me and I can read books from my home on Earth."

"Are you excited to read Earth things?" Ameris asked. She always liked to ask him about his studies; partly because his parents never did and partly because she didn't have enough time to spend on studying.

"I am. If Matteusz decides he doesn't like me, I shall find myself a library and spend my days there instead of with him." He'd thought this all through before.

"You'll do that anyway," Ameris said with a laugh. "Nothing can keep you away from a library." Charlie just nodded. She was right, she was always right, and she knew him so well. He wished he could stay.

"I'm going to miss you," he said sadly. "I'll be counting down the days until it's winter on Earth and I'm allowed to come back home."

"I'll miss you too," she said, reaching out to hug him, just quickly before he went. "You'll be okay on Earth, I'm sure."

"I hope so. If it's possible, I will keep in touch." Charlie glanced over at Matteusz, was was standing rather awkwardly nearby. "I should probably go rescue him...he looks lost."

Ameris nodded, eyeing Matteusz one last time. "Make sure he treats you well. Make sure you treat him well. I'll see you soon." She hugged him again, and then Charlie was free to go and talk to Matteusz again.

He wandered back over, smiling as pleasantly as he could manage at his new husband. "How are you finding the party? Not too overwhelming?"

"I don't know many of the people here," Matteusz admitted, and he looked slightly sheepish. Maybe he was meant to know some of these people? There were certainly lots of Earth people here, and Charlie imagined they were nobility.

"I'd offer to escape the party with you, but I think I have to give a speech at the end of it." He sighed. "We should just hold hands and make pleasantries with the guests. Do you have to do that on Earth?"

"Yes," Matteusz smiled. "My parents want to throw a ball when you arrive to introduce you to people. They're around here somewhere, maybe we should stop avoiding them."

Charlie reached out to take Matteusz's hand, twining their fingers together. "Let's go find them. I'm sure they'll be wanting to congratulate their son." His own parents were around, of course, but he'd been avoiding them. He didn't like talking to them that much, especially since they'd decided to marry him off.

"They will not be wanting to congratulate me much." Matteusz caught sight of them standing in a corner and he sighed, pointing them out to Charlie. Charlie looked at them and made a face, carefully making sure that only Matteusz saw it. They looked thoroughly like aristocratic numbskulls (his favourite human insult). Exactly the kind of people he despised.

Matteusz snorted in a very un-princely way, and Charlie felt a sort of warmth in his chest. He'd made Matteusz laugh, and not just some forced polite laugh for the sake of appearances. The snort attracted the attention of every person in the vicinity, so Charlie had to force a fake laugh and smile in the most loving way he could at Matteusz. Let the people believe there was something more than mutual hatred for their situation. It would just make it easier for him.

"Sorry about that," Matteusz whispered once the attention of everyone else had drifted away again. "Was not expecting face like that from person like you."

"I'm perfectly capable of humour," Charlie said, slightly indignant, and Matteusz laughed again, just a little. "What am I doing?"

"Being endearing," Matteusz said, and Charlie wasn't quite sure what to say to that. He just smiled, laughing a little nervously. 

"Let's go see your parents." Matteusz just sighed at that, leading him over to where his parents were standing. They were still looking directly at them after Matteusz's snort.

"Good evening, Mother. Father." Matteusz bowed stiffly, then straightened and gestured to Charlie with a smile. "My new husband."

Charlie bowed his head in the usual Rhodian greeting to a superior. They were inferiors to him on his planet, but Earth had very complicated intergalactic greeting customs. This was safe. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," he said, though it was not a pleasure at all.

"Hmm," was all Matteusz's father said. There was a clear aura of disapproval radiating off of both of them, and Charlie just wanted to leave again, quite frankly.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Earth culture first hand," he said, and that time it was genuine. Because the culture had very little to do with nobles and much more to do with the general populace.

"I think you will find it very different to your Rhodian culture..." That was Matteusz's mother, and the way she spoke was just unfriendly enough to almost sound like a threat.

"Undoubtedly," he said, with as much of a smile as he could manage. He hadn't spent half his life in the courts for nothing. "That's what makes it so interesting. I'm excited about studying a little science, particularly."

"Science? Hmph. An odd choice of interest for...someone like you." Charlie wasn't quite sure what was being insinuated there, but he felt like some part of his character was being insulted.

"It is a common conception in humans that men with a taste in men prefer the arts," Matteusz said, squeezing Charlie's hand. Charlie hadn't realised that Matteusz's parents were the intolerant sort.

"Oh. Well, I enjoy the arts as well. I prefer my education to be well-rounded." He smiled at Matteusz's parents politely, and then glanced behind him. "If you'll excuse us, your majesties, we have other guests we need to greet."

They both nodded and made no other comment. Charlie was glad the conversation was over, because those were the rudest, most intolerant humans he had ever met. He pulled Matteusz away to another area of the crowded hall, rolling his eyes. "Honestly. Are all people on Earth that bigoted?"

"Thankfully no," Matteusz said with a sigh that Charlie couldn't interpret. Humans had such complex forms of expression, and he couldn't tell if Matteusz was relieved or upset.

"Good. I don't think I could bear being surrounded by those attitudes all the time...although I suppose that's what you've had to deal with until now. I'm sorry for that." Charlie couldn't imagine growing up around someone who was that rude all the time. At least his parents accepted him, even if they were disappointed.

"I'm okay," Matteusz said. "Do you want to go and introduce me to your parents? How do I greet the king and queen?"

"I don't want to, exactly," Charlie said, and Matteusz grinned. "But I will. You're meant to bow to them very deeply and wait for them to speak before you address them."

"Okay." Matteusz nodded, mouthing Charlie's instructions back to himself, presumably to memorise them. Charlie scanned the room for his parents, spotting them socialising with a few of the dignitaries from Earth.

He waited until they were done, and then he took Matteusz by the arm and walked over to his parents. The humans paid far less attention to them than Rhodians did, which probably showed they didn't realise just how important his parents were. He bowed deeply, glancing over and smiling as Matteusz did just the same. He clearly learned fast, then. "I hope you're enjoying your evening," he said, smiling at each of them in turn. "May I introduce my new husband, Matteusz."

Matteusz straightened up from his bow and smiled politely at Charlie's parents. "Is a pleasure to meet you both."

His parents smiled, and Charlie was glad to see they looked far less laboured in their pretended happiness than Matteusz's parents. "It is wonderful that you're both here to do this for your people," his mother said.

"I was glad to, and I am sure Charlie will make a wonderful husband," Matteusz said, pulling him a little closer by his arm. Charlie smiled, pretending that he didn't mind how much Matteusz kept touching him. It was very uncomfortable, but he could deal with it for the moment. Besides, it was probably normal on earth for married couples to touch this much in public. He'd just have to get used to it.

"I'm glad you'll be happy together," his father said. He wasn't smiling, but there was a sort of proud edge to his voice that surprised Charlie. Maybe it was because he'd finally managed to serve his country.

"Thank you," Charlie said with a smile. It was clear that the conversation was over now, so he pulled Matteusz carefully away.

"Was that okay?" Matteusz asked, glancing back at Charlie's parents, who'd moved on to talk to someone else. "I didn't offend them, did I?"

"No, not at all." Charlie laughed. "You did very well. The only thing is...Rhodian couples tend to touch a little less than we are. There's normally a lot of spines in the way, you see?"

"Normally?" Matteusz looked at him strangely. Hadn't he known that this wasn't his complete form? "What do you mean?"

"We've all changed our forms so as not to alarm you humans," Charlie explained. "Normally there's more spines...I thought you wouldn't want to see that. Linking arms like we are now, you'd have spikes digging into your shoulder if I was myself."

"I-" Matteusz looked at him. He looked surprised and almost angry. That wasn't good. "Why are you hiding that from us?"

"It wasn't my idea. It was my parents' idea. They thought it would scare you humans away..." Charlie shrugged. He'd always thought it was silly to hide what they really looked like. The humans would just trust them even less once it was revealed, so it would harm them in the long term.

"Hmm." Matteusz didn't look terribly convinced. "Would like to see your true form, anyway...if that is possible."

Charlie shook his head. "It isn't. I have no idea how to reveal it and I think it's supposed to last a certain length of time." That was a lie. He could show himself to Matteusz right now, but he didn't want to.

"Oh." Matteusz looked rather disappointed, really. "I would like to see it some day. Is odd to think that...you are not real."

"I am!" He protested. Matteusz seeing his real form was so feared that he'd only just managed to persuade his parents not to make the change permanent. "This is what I would look like if I were more human. It's still me."

"If you say so." Charlie knew from that tone that he still hadn't convinced Matteusz, and he felt a little guilty. Maybe he would have to show off his true form at some point.

The party wore on with little more than small talk. Meaningless small talk. He was barely even allowed to talk about what a wonderful place Earth would be to study, because that wasn't dry enough for Earth dignitaries. All they wanted to talk about was how good of him it was to give himself up into this political marriage, and the prosperity that this would bring both planets. Very important stuff, yes, but not even slightly interesting. He'd had the discussions with himself in his head a thousand times by now, trying to convince himself not to run away on the day. He knew how important it was. He knew the significance of these actions. That was why he couldn't mess it up.

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of thought has gone into our concepts on Rhodian culture (as well as made up human future stuff), but any ideas/comments are very much appreciated :)


End file.
